Deck, pontoon, and similar type boats are often equipped with a folding top, commonly referred to as a “bimini” top. The top includes struts that support a canvas cover over some or all of the occupants when the top is deployed in the fully opened position to shade the occupants from the sun and to provide limited protection of the occupants during inclement weather. The top may be folded against the rear of the boat on cool days when direct sun is desirable, but many users also deploy the top in a so-called “radar” position in which the top is folded, but the struts are deployed in an intermediate, angled position, thus providing for direct sun but also permitting easy access to all of the seats of the boat.
However, folding tops are relatively heavy and cumbersome, and are difficult to fold and deploy, especially for users having physical limitations. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a power actuator for such folding tops, which enables users to easily move folding tops between the folded, radar and deployed positions. Although power actuators for such tops have been proposed before, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,477, none provides easy, powered movement between all three positions.